Child Care
- Fifty-one percent of Americans, and 60 percent of those living in rural communities, are living in a “child care desert.” Additionally, nearly three-quarters of working parents say they have experienced challenges with accessing child care. This is especially true for families who have young children, children with disabilities, work non-traditional hours, have low income, and Black, Latinx, and indigenous families.
- Even when child care providers are available, the high costs and concerns over quality create significant barriers for parents. Forty percent of parents in the U.S. have gone into debt to pay for child care and almost 3 in 10 parents have had to choose between paying for child care or paying their rent or mortgage on time.
- The astronomical child care costs are forcing parents into a financial hole that is nearly impossible to climb out of and drastically limiting families’ economic potential.
- Parents with reliable, quality care miss fewer work days, are more productive, and can better provide for their families. The U.S. economy loses an estimated $122 billion annually due to parents missing work, lost productivity, and lost revenue related to child care issues.
- Just like the foundation of a house, children’s brains are built from the ground up – studies prove that the vast majority of brain development happens in the early years of life. Building a strong foundation when they’re young is critically important. Just like with a house, if someone has to go back and fix the foundation, it is more costly and problematic. It’s the same way with children.
Donald Trump: The Trump Administration proposed relief to families through changes to the tax code, including increasing the child tax credit benefit from $1,000 to $2,000 per child for families making up to $400,000. In 2016 his campaign also included other tax changes, including allowing higher-income families to deduct certain child care expenses from their taxes and invest more in tax-free savings options for children. In addition to tax changes, the Trump Administration proposed to maintain funding for Child Care and Head Start at a time when his Administration was proposing significant cuts or eliminations to other programs. When asked about his plan to combat the cost of child care in September 2024, Trump said it’s an “important issue” but did not share his plan.
Kamala Harris: In her first remarks after announcing her candidacy, Vice President Harris said she believes in a future where “every person has access to… affordable child care.” She also plans to increase the child tax credit, including a $6,000 tax credit for parents with newborns. When she ran for president in 2020, she released her “Children’s Agenda” which included plans to make child care affordable and accessible to all. The Biden-Harris Administration proposed in each of its three Budgets a plan to provide affordable, high-quality child care and universal preschool. The Administration proposed and helped secure the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act, which saved families an estimated $1,250 per child in child care costs, increased wages for child care workers by 10 percent, and led 325,000 mothers of young children into the workforce. Additionally, the Administration has requested annual increases to the Child Care subsidy program and Head Start, two programs aimed at helping low-income families with care.
Jill Stein: Free childcare is listed as a priority on Stein’s 2024 campaign platform, along with “free public education for all institutions of learning.” This Pre-K through graduate school and trade schools.
Cornel West: West’s Worker Justice pillar includes a national free Pre-K Childcare program. The pillar states that he believes ”support for working families starts from the earliest years” and “by providing free childcare, we not only aid working parents but also invest in our children’s future.”
Maternal Health
- The U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate of any high-income country and it has more than doubled over the past two decades. More than 80 percent of these deaths are preventable, according to the CDC.
- Though significant disparities exist for women of color, with Black and Indigenous women dying at rates of 2 to 3 times that of white women, American women of all racial and ethnic backgrounds are impacted by this crisis.
- The maternal health crisis affects mothers in all states, and in settings from urban to rural, particularly in areas with increasing maternity unit closures and decreased access to care. Rates of maternal mortality have nearly tripled in the past 20 years in the South and nearly quintupled in the Midwest. Additionally, over 2 million women of childbearing age and 130,000 babies live in maternity care deserts.
- The Dobbs decision has heightened this crisis. Between 2018 and 2022, overall death rates for women of reproductive age (15–44) in abortion-restriction states were 34 percent higher than in abortion-access states.
A survey found 64 percent of OB-GYNs believe the overturning of Roe v. Wade has worsened pregnancy mortality, 70 percent believe it’s worsened racial and ethnic inequities, and 56 percent believe it’s worsened the ability to attract new doctors to the field.
Donald Trump: President Trump signed the bipartisan Preventing Maternal Deaths Act into law in 2018. This gave $50 million in grants to states to develop maternal mortality review committees, better understand maternal health complications, and identify solutions to prevent them. In 2019, the Trump Administration implemented a rule change that prohibited healthcare providers who receive Title X Family Planning funding from mentioning abortion care as an option to patients, providing an abortion referral, or offering abortion care services. Additionally, the Trump Administration eliminated the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that all employers provide birth control coverage and allowed a range of employers with religious or moral objections to stop offering free birth control through their health insurance plans.
Kamala Harris: As a U.S. Senator, Harris introduced the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act, a package of bills that would improve maternal health outcomes, particularly among racial and ethnic minority groups, veterans, and other vulnerable populations. In 2021, Vice President Harris issued a nationwide Call to Action to help improve health outcomes for parents and infants. This plan included new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) guidance to help states provide 12 months of postpartum coverage through Medicaid and an investment of $3 billion in maternal health efforts. In 2022, the Biden-Harris Administration issued the Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis to combat maternal mortality and morbidity. In 2024, the Administration invested $105 million in funding to support community-based organizations working to improve maternal and infant health. They also released a national strategy to address the maternal mental health crisis, based on recommendations developed by the Task Force on Maternal Mental Health.
Jill Stein: While Stein hasn’t shared specific plans to address the maternal health crisis, her campaign platform states that she will codify Roe v. Wade and “Advance reproductive rights.” She also plans to invest in community clinics and hospitals in disadvantaged communities to help address inequities in healthcare.
Cornel West: Black Maternal Justice is one of West’s campaign pillars. His plan to tackle maternal mortality and morbidity in the U.S. includes significantly increasing funding for maternal health initiatives, comprehensive cultural competency and implicit bias training for obstetrics and gynecology healthcare providers, expansion of community health worker programs, increasing access to midwives and doulas, and more.
Paid Family and Medical Leave
- Families and individuals are strongest and contribute the greatest to society and work when there is sufficient time to heal after birth or illness and care for a loved one.
- The U.S. is the only industrialized nation with zero paid maternity leave.
- Only 27 percent of the workforce has paid family leave through their employers, and just 41 percent has personal medical leave through an employer-provided short-term disability program.
- Without paid leave and to avoid lost income, many mothers return to work before healing from birth. In fact, 1 in 4 women will return to work within two weeks of giving birth. This results in 55 percent feeling depressed and 71 percent feeling anxious for several days/more often.
- Working families lose an estimated $22.6 billion in wages each year due to a lack of access to paid family and medical leave. Additionally, workers 50 or older who leave the workforce to care for a parent lose more than $300,000 in wages and retirement on average – and, for women, losses are even greater.
- New mothers who take paid leave are more likely than those who take no paid leave to stay in the workforce and 54 percent more likely to report wage increases. Paid leave also contributes to reduced turnover and increased employee engagement and loyalty, leading to significant employer cost savings.
- The United States would add $775 billion to its GDP per year if women participated in the labor force at rates similar to those in comparable countries with more robust work family policies.
Donald Trump: In 2016, the Trump campaign pledged to provide six paid weeksof maternity leave through an approach similar to unemployment insurance, which caps the benefit as a percentage of income. During his Administration, Trump proposed a paid leave plan that would leave most of the implementation to the states. However, he did support and sign into law legislation created by Senate Democrats and championed by Ivanka Trump that provided all federal employees 12 weeks of paid leave. In his 2020 State of the Union address, President Trump expressed support for the bipartisan Advancing Support for Working Families Act, a paid leave bill that would allow parents caring for newborns or newly adopted children to utilize a portion of their future Child Tax Credit up to $5,000 to care for the child. The 2024 Trump campaign has not yet unveiled a paid leave proposal.
Kamala Harris: Vice President Harris stated she believes in a future where “every person has access to paid family leave” during her first remarks after announcing her candidacy. Her “Children’s Agenda”, which she released during her 2020 presidential run, included six months of paid family and medical leave. The Biden-Harris Administration has proposed a national paid family and medical leave policy that would give individuals 12 weeks of leave, which would be administered through the Social Security Administration. This comprehensive proposal includes caring for a newborn or someone seriously ill, healing from injury or sickness, addressing circumstances related to military deployment, coping with grief, and taking time to find safety and care from domestic violence or assault. In 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration also expanded the Military Parental Leave Program so that active-duty service members would be eligible for 12 weeks of parental leave following the birth, adoption, or placement of a child for long-term foster care. The expansion also allows for both parents to take leave while balancing the needs of their unit.
Jill Stein: Stein’s campaign platform includes federally mandated and funded paid leave. This plan includes one-year parental leave, eight weeks of vacation time, and three weeks of sick leave.
Cornel West: As part of his Worker Justice pillar, West plans to provide “six months of fully paid leave” if elected President. He also includes expanding “parental leave and disability benefits” in his Economic Justice pillar.